


@ me next time

by kinghinatatobio (redhoodedwolf)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Crushes, Like RIGHT before they go pro, M/M, Meet-Cute, Minor Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Misunderstandings, Online Friendship, Twitter, Volleyball Dorks & Nerds, Yams is a volleyball live-tweeter, all fluff, and the rest is history~, brief one-off mention of slurs, tsukki follows
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-22
Updated: 2017-09-22
Packaged: 2019-01-04 00:31:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12157947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redhoodedwolf/pseuds/kinghinatatobio
Summary: yamaguchivolley ☆good morning everyone!! first day of all japan university championships! best of luck to all players! (fight on Chuo!!)yamaguchivolley ☆Hinata says he feels especially fired up today so expect some exciting games today!tsukishima_927 Ͻ@yamaguchivolley last time #10 was excited he looked like a shaken soda bottle how’s he supposed to play like that?





	@ me next time

**Author's Note:**

> So I was in class when I suddenly thought 'What if Yamaguchi wasn't a volleyball player BUT a commentator but not official, like through twitter and tsukishima followed him and they were sarcastic TOGETHER but THROUGH TWITTER" and here we are nearly 5K later and I'm not sorry  
> (Sorry not sorry for the sad photoshopping)  
> Enjoy!

 

 **yamaguchivolley** **☆**

            good morning everyone!! first day of all japan university championships! best of luck to all players! (fight on Chuo!!)

 **yamaguchivolley** **☆**

            Hinata says he feels especially fired up today so expect some exciting games today!

 **yamaguchivolley** **☆**

            as always, I will keep you all updated on the highlights of each game, so stay tuned!

 **yamaguchivolley** **☆**

            check pinned tweet for up-to-date bracket! (and apologies for my messy scrawl!)

**tsukishima_927 Ͻ**

            _@yamaguchivolley_ last time #10 was excited he looked like a shaken soda bottle how’s he supposed to play like that?

 **yamaguchivolley** **☆**

            _@tsukishima_927_ accurate metaphor! Kageyama is a cooling mentos

**tsukishima_927 Ͻ**

            _@yamaguchivolley_ watch out for that explosive combo

 **yamaguchivolley** **☆**

            what an EXPLOSIVE first point for Chuo! The Hinata/Kageyama duo is rearing to go today!

 

            Kei leaned back in his chair and brought the hand not currently holding his phone up to his mouth to rub at it, as if to erase the smile that wanted to break out after having read yamaguchivolley’s latest update tweet. “Shit,” he murmured to himself, before pressing his fingers to his lips and then pulling away, neutral façade reestablished.

            He had begun following yamaguchivolley’s tweets quite a few months ago now, when Kei had been unable to attend his university’s final game. Even though he hadn’t played volleyball officially (he still played with old teammates when he went home over vacations but that hardly counted) since graduating high school, the game still intrigued him, and it was the one aspect of his school where, outside of academics, he was willing to show some school spirit. His school didn’t have a great team, but they were decent.

            He’d been vocally upset (as much as Kei was every vocal about anything) within hearing distance of a classmate friend who pointed him towards a few twitter accounts that would be livetweeting the game so he could stay up-to-date.

            The first twitter was the school’s sports one, which meant the updates would come few and far between. But the second one, username yamaguchivolley with a cute little star emoji next to the name promised (and appeared at first scroll to fulfill said promise) constant updates throughout the match. Though it was clear the tweeter had some bias as to which team they were rooting for, they were encouraging of other teams in the tournament as well.

 

 **_yamaguchivolley_ ** **_☆_ **

_There’s some good players on Hosei University’s team this year, keep your eyes on them if you can!_

 

            So, Kei had followed it, and even after the game, he continued to follow. He was never much on Twitter, only used it for things like game updates, but he found himself checking once a day extra, to see if yamaguchivolley had new news to share. And over the span of a few months, he’d begun to lean more things about the person behind the account. His name was Yamaguchi, obviously, but he was not a student at Chuo University. He was, however, high school friends with the oddball duo of Chuo, Japan National Volleyball Team hopefuls Kageyama Tobio and Hinata Shouyou. Because of this connection, he attended almost all of their games. It was unlikely he was a student at any university, though Kei has no clues as to what Yamaguchi does with his daily life. Surely, he doesn’t spend all of his time livetweeting Tokyo college volleyball games.

            And then the pictures. The first time Yamaguchi posted a photo of himself after Kei’s follow, it was a selfie with Hinata and Kageyama, post-game, victorious grins on (two) of their faces. It was obvious which of the three was Yamaguchi, as he was squashed in the middle, cheeks flushed. Freckles smattered his face, cresting over the bridge of his nose. His tongue peeked out of his mouth a little, and a peace sign hid half of his lips. Kei couldn’t determine the color of his eyes beneath the shadows of his dark, sweeping bangs.

            But that was fine. The second picture, a week later, showed off his bright eyes just fine, the filter from Snapchat whiting out the beauty marks on his face, but allowing for a bunch of hearts to pop up all over his head. His eyes were cast upwards, as if to look at them, lips tilted in a knowing smile. His hair appeared to be tucked back, likely tied at the base of his head. A stubborn few strands, however, broke the mold, sticking up like they chose to defy gravity. Kei soon found that to be a theme.

 

 **_yamaguchivolley_ ** **_☆_ **

_me when I think about volleyball_

 

            Kei had liked the tweet on instinct, only half aware of what he was doing. Hs heart froze in his chest for a moment, wondering of Yamaguchi would think him a creep for liking a photo like that. But when he checked back less than an hour later, out of sheer panic, the tweet had gotten hundreds of likes and seemed to be growing, so he found himself able to relax.

            Eventually, Kei let himself relax enough to shoot back responses. He wasn’t the only one, of course. Yamaguchi’s twitter had a few thousand followers and his popularity was only growing. But Yamaguchi usually always shot a response back, or at least liked it. It was one of those responses where Kei learned that Yamaguchi wasn’t as sweet as he appeared to be. He was willing to match Kei’s sometimes mean-sounding responses with equally as sarcastic replies. It was all well intended, at least on Yamaguchi’s part (Kei wasn’t as nice of a person, he admitted this), so it was fun banter. Every once and a while he’d send a risky tweet, but Yamaguchi always came back with a response near immediately. It made Kei feel like he knew him, even though he knew, logically, they were barely more than strangers. Yamaguchi didn’t give him a second thought after sending a response. Not like Kei did.

            Kei sighed, then glanced up and around to see if anyone had noticed his momentary showing of emotions. The library wasn’t too crowded, thankfully, as it was nearing eleven and hardly any students were up at this point on a Saturday. But he had to get all of his work done, because he would be busy all of tomorrow.

            Busy attending the second rounds of the All Japan University Championships.

            He’d been invited by a few classmates of his who were either also former volleyball players or just avid fans of the game. They were all carpooling together early tomorrow morning and then planning to get dinner afterwards before driving back and getting some sleep before Monday classes.

            Kei locked his phone and pushed it away, forcing himself to finish the paper he’d been putting off all week. And then reading the chapters he’d been putting off all week. By the time he finished, it was long past lunch time and his stomach was protesting painfully. He slumped over to the commons area to grab a pre-wrapped sandwich before walking back to his apartment. Once he settled onto his bed, ignoring the bumping around of his roommate in the kitchen, he picked up his phone again and decided to check in with Yamaguchi.

 

 **yamaguchivolley** **☆**

            Well-played games today! Everyone was so pumped up! Congrats to those moving on to day two! Day two bracket pinned (legible this time!)!

 **yamaguchivolley** **☆**

            Answering specific game questions now, I’ll answer as best I can! :D

 

            Kei hesitated. He was tempted to reach out, but what would he say, or ask? Kei worried his bottom lip between his teeth, scrunched up his nose and readjusted his glasses. Slowly, he opened up a reply and began typing.

 

**tsukishima_927 Ͻ**

            _@yamaguchivolley_ attending day two with some friends, suggestions for the best matches to watch?

 

            Kei hovered his thumb over the X in the corner, but in the end decided that was an innocent question that didn’t sound creepy and most likely would garner a response.

            Yamaguchi was punctual as usual, and before a minute passed, his phone pinged with a response.

 

 **yamaguchivolley** **☆**

            _@tsukishima_927_ Hope you enjoy it! of course I’m going to say Chuo’s match, but you should definitely catch Hosei’s too since school spirit!

 

            Kei blinked rapidly, thumb brushing over the screen of his phone, as if what he just read was a smudge and Yamaguchi had not just insinuated he knew Kei’s school.

            But it was still there when his thumb retreated. Kei quickly nixed the brief thought of ‘stalker?’ because no, that would be stupid. But then he recalled his own twitter, and he thumbed over to his bio where…nope, actually he didn’t have his school listed. His bio was blank, actually, save for a moon emoji his brother had edited in and he was too uncaring to change. He’d mentioned in passing his affiliation to Hosei, but it had been quite some time since then. Had Yamaguchi…remembered? Why would he recall such a small detail about some random person on the internet? Did he have a photographic memory?

            Kei’s internal debate screeched to a halt when is phone pinged again in his hand.

 

 **yamaguchivolley** **☆**

            _@tsukishima_927_ and if you have time I think Juntendo are the underdogs here and that’s always intriguing to watch! :D

 

            Kei was _really_ tempted to ask Yamaguchi how he remembered what school he attended, but he also wasn’t prepared for whatever answer may come back to him. He settled for liking the tweets and leaving the intended response up to Yamaguchi’s imagination. Or not, since Yamaguchi had probably already moved on to the other people who had actual questions for him regarding the matches from today.

            Just to torture himself, he double checked his profile, just in case he missed the place where he’d labeled Hosei. Nothing.

            _Weird_ , Kei thought.

 

* * *

 

            “He probably thinks I’m so fucking weird!” Tadashi whisper-screamed to Hinata through his phone as he entered the stadium where the tournament was being held the next morning.

            “Well…” Hinata responded, and Tadashi gasped at his friend’s betrayal.

            “Oi, watch it. You’re one to talk.”

            “Chill out, Yamayama,” Hinata asserted.

            On the other end of the phone, Tadashi could hear a muffled, “What do you mean ‘chill out’, I’m relaxed! I’m fine!”

            “Not _you_ Yamayama, _Tadashi_ Yamayama,” Hinata clarified, vice sounding muffled before it came back into focus. “I don’t think it’s as big of a deal as you think it is. It hardly ever is.”

            “But remember that one time I was _right_ and it _was_?” Yamaguchi recalled, a shiver going down his spine at the memory.

            “Yeah, that was shit. But it hasn’t happened since! And it’s the internet, Tadashi. _Twitter_. Everyone’s info is on there.”

            Tadashi shook his head, even though Hinata couldn’t possibly see as he weaved through the crowds of checking-in student athletes. “Not his. I looked.” Hinata giggled. “Shut up.”

            “I’m sure he doesn’t think you’re a stalker or something. Did he unfollow you?”

            Tadashi quickly checked (again, for the fifth time). “…No,” he said on a relieved sigh.

            “Then you’re fine!” Hinata assured him. “Look Yama, we gotta get ready, coach wants to have a group talk. And I need _my_ time to freak out, I can’t focus on yours the whole day.”

            Tadashi rubbed a hand over his face. “I know, you’re right. Sorry. Best of luck, if I don’t see you beforehand.”

            “Bye, Tadashi,” he heard Kageyama tell him before the phone went silent, and Tadashi giggled to himself. Kageyama was always high-strung right before a game and needed his Hinata Focus Time. No exceptions.

            Tadashi typed out a quick tweet about his arrival for day two as he leaned against the wall right outside of the doors to the first gym. People were beginning to filter in, but Tadashi enjoyed being a floater (unless Chuo was playing) through the stands, never staying at one match for longer than a set. He replied to a few people who’d messaged him earlier this morning. But Tsukki wasn’t one of them.

            Tadashi had coined tsukishima_927 ‘Tsukki’ about a month after their first back-and-forth. He’d seen the username pop up every few days, so he’d gone onto his profile out of curiosity. All he had to say for himself was a little moon emoji and some scattered tweets about annoying people annoying him. The moon plus his username came to be Tsukki, and Tadashi had been calling him that ever since.

            The first two matches were set to begin in a half hour, so the teams in the first gym were already filtering in and beginning to warm up. Chuo would be playing a little bit after them, in the third gym. Hosei was in gym two, starting soon as well.

            Tadashi debated. Which gym should he start off in? The answer was obvious, but Tadashi pretended it wasn’t. The second gym, obviously. That’s where Tsukki would be.

            Not that he was a stalker! He definitely wasn’t that! Besides, Tadashi had no idea what Tsukki even looked like besides the fact that he wore glasses. He’d tweeted a complaint about them once. His icon photo for twitter was a silhouette shot of him on a beach. Infuriatingly vague. Not that Tadashi was dying to know about him or anything.

            It was just…he was witty. And unafraid to be sarcastic, and a little mean at times, but Tadashi knew he’d always had a thing for mean people. Tadashi talked to a lot of people every day, not to toot his own horn or anything, but Tsukki had stood out from basically the very beginning. There were a few other people Yamaguchi also kept tabs on, like the girl who’d confided in him her fears of being a female volleyball player in a very male-dominated sports world. And the guy who responds to his tweets in all caps, saying one-off things that always made him laugh. So, it wasn’t _just_ Tsukki. Tsukki was just…the first profile he checked-in on.

            Tadashi had a crush, basically. And it could all disappear if the dude turned out to be a jerk in real life, or not attracted to men, or if he hung out with mean friends, or, as shallow as it sounded, didn’t appear attractive to him.

            Unless he ruined it already by weirding the guy out by remembering what university he went to. It had honestly just slipped out, his fingers moved, and he’d giddily responded in an almost shock-like state (“He’s coming tomorrow oh my god we will be in the same place!”), pressing reply before even thinking.

            Tadashi knew his fate. He turned on his heel, and headed towards the second gym.

            And immediately collided with someone.

            Tadashi steadied his feet and quickly pocketed his phone and held both hands out in surrender and dipping his head in a bow, “I am so sorry!” He snapped his head up, and continued to look up. Wow, this dude was tall. “Are you alright?”

            The blond man brushed a hand down his jacket as if brushing away dust (or Tadashi’s touch) and readjusted his glasses. “Fine.”

            Tadashi sighed in relief and stood up straight. “Oh, good.” He met the man’s eyes, and the blond’s widened just a pinch, as if surprised Tadashi could straighten his spine.

            “Oh…” the man said on an exhale, and Tadashi blinked, eyes narrowed in confusion. The man cleared his throat, adjust his glasses ( _again_ , cute) and asked with a gentle voice, “Do you know which is the second gym?”

            Tadashi grinned at the man, and his shoulders seemed to relax. “I do! I was actually headed that way myself. I can show you, if you’d like!”

            The man’s eyebrows furrowed. “Isn’t Chuo in the third gym?”

            Tadashi cocked his head to the side. “What?”

            The man waved a hand. “Never mind. Second gym, yes. Please. Lead the way.”

            Tadashi brushed off the odd-sounding comment, nodding his head in the direction of the hallway and starting down it, the man at his side. They weaved through the crowd. It seemed much busier than yesterday. Tadashi noted this aloud to his walking companion.

            “I wasn’t here yesterday, so I can’t corroborate. However, it was enough for me to lose my…classmates in.”

            “Oh, you came with a group?” Tadashi asked. “That’s fun! Always better to watch games with other people.”

            “What about you? Watching with someone?” the man asked, glancing down at Tadashi from the corner of his eye.

            Tadashi felt his cheeks warm up, for some unknown reason. The man’s eyes were a liquid gold; they felt like they stared deep into his soul. He kinda liked it.

            “Ah, no,” Tadashi replied, hand going towards his pocket where his phone sat. “I mean, I know the players, mostly. From a couple different teams. And some of the regulars, but. No…” he waved a hand around in front of him, “… _set_ person. People.”

            The man hummed, staring Tadashi down for another few seconds before averting his eyes and dodging a pair of running kids smoothly. Tadashi internally sighed wistfully. He wished he had that much grace.

            “Do you play?”

            Tadashi started, not expecting the man to start the conversation back up again. “Hm?”

            “You said you know some of the players. Do you play?” he asked again, voice a slow drawl, almost teasing.

            Tadashi nibbled on his bottom lip, not sure if he should respond to the taunt, as he said, “Not anymore. I did growing up, and in high school. But that was a few years ago now.”

            “Me too,” the man responded, footsteps coming to a halt. Tadashi stopped too and looked in front of them. Oh, they’d gotten to the second gym.

            “What position did you play?” Tadashi asked, not wanting yet to stop talking to this unnamed man.

            “Middle blocker,” came the reply. “I’m surprised you didn’t just guess due to my height.”

            Tadashi shrugged his shoulders. “I know a middle blocker who’s a foot shorter than you, and I’ve known liberos only a little shorter. Plus, you have nice hands. I would have pegged you for a setter first.”

            Tadashi realized too late that complimenting a guy’s hands was usually a sure-fire way for slurs to be thrown around, and winced preemptively.

            Thankfully the man reacted normally. Well, as normally as any person would after getting a hand compliment. He stared down at them, wiggled his fingers, and chuckled. “Thanks,” the man said, meeting Tadashi’s terrified eyes. He smirked, and Tadashi relaxed, mouth dropping into an ‘oh’ of understanding. This guy was also probably…

            “Ah, but that was a bit weird, though, sorry,” Tadashi apologized anyway. “I was just the pinch server, but my jump floater serve was,” he made a popping noise with his tongue, “ace-worthy.”

            “Why don’t you play now, then?” the man asked, stepping ever so closer to Tadashi. The congestion in the hall was getting worse, but neither of them suggested moving into the open gym.

            “Ah, I’m not in college. There’s no team for me to join. I play with the community team every so often, though.”

            The man nodded in understanding. “Right, so you work?”

            Tadashi’s eyes lit up. “Yeah! I’m mostly doing freelance graphic design work right now, but I want to break into the social media and marketing world at some point. The goal is to work for the National team.”

            The man gave him a genuine smile. “I think you’d be good at that.”

            Tadashi opened his mouth, shut it, and then opened it again. The man’s eyes suddenly widened, like they had when Tadashi had bumped into him.

            “Ah, we should probably get into the gym. My classmates have maybe noticed my absence by now.” The man looked slightly uncomfortable now, though that might have been because he was the one getting pushed past as people walked by, Tadashi on the side against the wall and safe from the flow.

            “Oh, yes! Your friends must be waiting.”

            They entered the gym, the noise level ricocheting immediately. The pair shuffled towards the stands, Tadashi’s companion’s eyes floating over the faces in the large room.

            “Do you want to join me?”

            Tadashi whipped his head around to stare at the tall blond. “Um, what?”

            His lips quirked up in another teasing smirk. “Do you want. To join. Me.”

            Tadashi narrowed his eyes. “Depends. How much do you hate loud commentators and bright mobile devices?”

            The man looked like he was holding back from laughing. “I abhor both of those things equally, but only when they are separate.”

            Tadashi grinned. “Then I would love to join you. But only until the Chuo game starts. I’m afraid I have allegiance there.”

            “Understandable. This way, sir.”

            The man lead Tadashi with a hand on his shoulder towards the stands in front of the Hosei game where warmups seemed to be wrapping up and the match was about to begin. He was led up into the stands towards the middle, and then the hand dropped from his shoulder.

            “Oh!” Tadashi smacked his forehead with his hand and the man turned to look at him in amused concern. “I can’t believe I haven’t asked. “What’s your name?”

            The man seemed to freeze. Someone behind him shouted, “Tsukishima! There you are man!”

            Tadashi’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped as the tall drink of water in front of him turned to greet the shouting person. Which meant he went by Tsukishima. And he was here for the Hosei game. Just like…

            “Who’s your friend?”

            Tadashi looked up as the student/friend of Tsukishima—Tsukki’s wrapped his arm around his shoulder. Tsukishima looked less than impressed, but he was also as white as a sheet. He stuttered, refusing to make eye contact with Tadashi.

            “Yamaguchi Tadashi,” Tadashi introduced himself. “I’m meandering from game to game, met up with Tsukki in the hallway and so I’ll be sitting with you guys for the first twenty or so rallys.”

            ‘Tsukki?’ mouthed Tsukishima, and Tadashi felt his face flame up. He looked up at Tsukishima from under his eyelashes, who was now willing to make eye contact with him, and asked, “Is that…okay?”

            Tsukishima swallowed and shrugged off his friend. “Yeah,” he said, voice sounding a little weak.

            The three of them shuffled over to a small group of students decked out in Hosei gear. Tadashi let the still unnamed friend introduce him to the rest of the group and kept his eyes on Tsukishima, taking a seat next to him on the bench.

            “So, uh…” Tadashi started, unsure of the best course of action here. “Can I assume you recognized me?”

            Tsukishima wrung his hands out in his lap, but he kept his eyes locked with Tadashi’s despite his nerves. “I did, yes. But not until after you bumped into me I didn’t…expect to see you.”

            Tadashi smiled. “I know. Actually, a lot of things make sense now.” He chuckled. “And to be clear you’re…tsukishima_927 right?”

            Tsukishima pulled out his phone and opened up his Twitter app, flashing his profile page for Tadashi to see in lieu of a verbal answer.

            Tadashi let out a breathy laugh and shook his head. “It’s almost like fate, eh Tsukki?”

            “Or unfortunate happenstance,” Tsukishima countered, “depending on how we see each other.”

            Tadashi ducked his head, thumbing over the phone in his hands. “Fate, then,” he murmured. At his side Tsukishima stiffened, indicating he’d heard what Tadashi had said.

            Tadashi looked over at him hesitantly.

            Tsukishima stared straight ahead at the starting game and pushed his glasses up his nose. “Seems so.”

            Tadashi’s face felt warm. He distracted himself by typing out a tweet. A second after hitting send, a soft vibration came from Tsukishima’s direction. They both looked down at his phone.

            “Tsukki…you have notifications on for me?” Tadashi sang, feeling happy. He’d always wondered if anyone cared that much.

            “Only because I wanted to know if there’s anything interesting happening at other games I’m not at,” Tsukishima defended himself. “And what is with ‘Tsukki’ anyway?”

            Tadashi sucked in a breath. Right, he’d just…naturally called him that. Time to confess, okay.

            “Well, ‘cause…your Twitter bio is just the moon emoji, right? And your name is Tsukishima, so I… Tsukki is what I call you. In my head.”

            “And aloud.”

            “Well now, yes!” Tadashi responded, pressing a cool hand against one of his warm cheeks. “Sorry,” he said, muffled by his arm.

            Tsukishima leaned into him. “What was that? It’s loud in here, I didn’t quite catch it.”

            “I said sorry, Tsukki!” Yamaguchi repeated louder this time. A tug on his arm got him to drop it, eyes following the touch to its owner.

            “Shut up, Yamaguchi, it’s fine,” Tsukishima said in a monotonous voice, but his face betrayed it, an amused gleam in his eyes.

            The starting whistle blew, and Tadashi shot straight up, head whipping towards the court where the match was about to begin. “Hosei looks prepared,” Tadashi noted.

            Tsukishima hummed. “I suppose. But do you see number four? He’s the setter, but his hands are shaking.”

            Tadashi leaned forward and squinted. “Is that…Is he wearing—”

            “Tape. His fingers are taped.”

            Tadashi groaned in sympathy. “He’s in pain.”

            Tsukishima made a noise of agreement.

            “What about the reserve setter?”

            Tsukishima pointed out the payer standing in the box stretching out his arms with a large thirteen on his back. “First year. Average. They might make a set, but they would for sure have secured at least two if number four hadn’t gotten injured.”

            Tadashi leaned back and gave Tsukishima an up and down glance. “You have a good eye.”

            Tsukishima shrugged to brush off the compliment, but his spine straightened, as if he were presenting himself, chest puffing out.  

            “Wanna come watch the Chuo game with me, then? Maybe you’ll catch things I don’t, and we can tag-team it.” He wiggled his phone in the air.

            Tsukishima raised an eyebrow. “You want to _use_ me to better your Twitter account?”

            Tadashi shook his head and waved his hands. “No!”

            “Because I honestly didn’t think you were like that, Yamaguchi. I may have to unfollow.”

            “No! Tsu _kki_ ,” Tadashi whined, reaching out as Tsukishima reached for his phone. “Stop teasing me.”

            Tsukishima raised an eyebrow. “Am I? Teasing?”

            Tadashi resolutely declared, “Yes.”

            “Sure,” Tsukishima said, and it took Tadashi a second to realize he was agreeing to watch the Chuo game with him. “I pretty much know how this is going to go. And I’m not much for school spirit anyhow.”

            Tadashi poked at the crest on Tsukishima’s jacket, his school crest. “Sure, Tsukki.”

            “Besides,” Tsukishima shrugged it off, “I’m sure the oddball duo is more entertaining live.”

            Tadashi’s eyes lit up. “Oh, they _are_! And can you believe they’ve only known each other since first year of high school?”

            “It is surprising,” Tsukishima agreed, locking eyes with Tadashi. “But sometimes people just,” he slotted his fingers together, “…click.”

            Tadashi bit the inside of his cheek, heart shipping a beat. “Yeah. They do.”

 

* * *

 

            When Kei got home late that evening, having walked to his apartment alone, none of his classmates living in his complex, he collapsed onto his bed and let out a long noise that was a mix between a sigh, a groan, and a moan. He grabbed a pillow and tried to smother himself. His face felt too hot.

            A pinging noise that went off once, and then once again a minute later was what finally got him to release the bedding prison and reach for the device in the pocket of his kicked-off pants.

 

 **yamaguchivolley** **☆**

            Met my #1fan today!! say hello to the moon

 

            Attached to the tweet was the selfie Yamaguchi had insisted they take together after the Chuo win. Yamaguchi was doing his big smile-squinty eyes-peace sign signature, whereas Kei chose to look into the camera and try not to look too annoyed. Out of frame, he knew his hand was resting on Yamaguchi’s thigh for leverage, and the other man hadn’t shaken off the touch until they stood to go watch another match.

            Kei retweeted it and saved the photo onto his phone. He thought about replying to the tweet, but instead he closed out of the app and opened up his messages.

**Shut up, Yamaguchi.**

            The reply was instantaneous. It was a kissy-face emoji.

**thanks for the retweet!**

**and if you take me off notifications I’m canceling our date**

A string of kissy-face emojis.

            Kei replied with a screenshot of him unfollowing Yamaguchi’s twitter. Yamaguchi replied back with a string of crying emojis

**don’t be mean to me Tsukki**

**i’ll even follow you**

**see I did it**

**you should feel special**

**Trust me I do**

**TSUKKIIIIII**

            Tsukishima snickered at the blushing-face emoji that followed it.

                        **Tell your weird friends good luck in the finals**

**I will!!!**

**and they’re not weird**

**are you sure**

**okay maybe a little but so are we!!**

**and they like you!**

**Lies.**

**or they will!!**

**eventually!!**

**big day tomorrow so time to sleep goodnight Tsukki!**

Tsukishima dropped the phone down from above his head to resting over his heart. It felt warm against his skin.

 

* * *

 

**kageyamatobio**

            Don’t find dates on the internet.

**shouyouvolleyball**

            Find them in a gym. RT kageyamatobio: Don’t find dates on the internet.

 **yamaguchivolley** **☆**

            _@shouyouvolleyball_ I did ;)

**Tsukishima_927 Ͻ**

            @ me next time

**Author's Note:**

> Catch me on my tumblr [kinghinatatobio](http://kinghinatatobio.tumblr.com) or on [twitter](http://twitter.com/kinghinatatobio)!


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